Little Christmas in a BIG WAY

HAPPY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

Or, as I should say today: HAUSKAA PIKKUJOULU!

FROM WIKIPEDIA: 

"Pikkujoulu (Finnish for "little Christmas") is a Finnish traditional party held to anticipate Christmas. The Pikkujoulu party is non-formal, highly festive, and themed after Christmas. Pikkujoulu parties can be held by various communities, organisations, companies, or just among friends. Pikkujoulu differs from Christmas as more free-form and less religious. It is traditional to serve Christmas food and drink at a Pikkujoulu party, such as rice pudding and glögg."

BEETLE NOTE: It is also traditional, as of this year, to serve goat-shaped gingersnaps with red icing harnesses. 

"Pikkujoulu is based on the Advent: the Advent signified the waiting for Jesus Christ and the fasting, which ended on Christmas. In the 19th century, the Advent was sometimes called "the little Christmas", i.e. Pikkujoulu. The proper Pikkujoulu tradition started in Helsinki after World War I. The basis for the party was "Christmas tree parties" held in schools. The supper parties held at the end of autumn by student nations gradually formed into the modern Pikkujoulu. Pikkujoulu parties started by student nations grew out to other communities in the 1930s. Before World War II, the parties were sometimes called "porridge parties"."

BEETLE NOTE: Only in Finland would something be deemed "festive" when it involved porridge.

"Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure. The name "Joulupukki" literally means "Christmas goat" or "Yule Goat" in Finnish; the word pukki comes from the Teutonic root bock, which is a cognate of the English "buck", "Puck", and means "billy-goat". An old Scandinavian custom, the figure eventually became more or less conflated with Santa Claus."

BEETLE NOTE: Hence the goat-shaped cookies. They are CHRISTMAS GOATS. 

Because nothing says "Christmas!" like a goat. And possibly porridge. 

"The Joulupukki or "Yule Buck" is originally a pagan tradition. He is connected to the ase Wōden of the norse mythology and said to wear red leather pants and a fur trimmed red leather coat. Under the Winter Solstice - going by the names of Jólnir (yule figure) and Langbarðr (long-beard) - Wōden led the Wild Hunt accompanied by Thor driving his a flying wagon drawn by goat bucks. The Joulupukki may also be a man turned into a goat-man on Christmas Eve, as it is seen in Elsa Beskow's Peter and Lotta's Christmas. There persists today in some parts of Finland the custom of persons dressing in goat costume to perform for leftover food after Christmas. Historically, such a person was an older man, and the tradition refers to him as a nuuttipukki."

BEETLE NOTE: This is why I made approximately seven million Joulupukkis. 

Seven million is only a slight exaggeration.

Also. THOR IS INVOLVED IN CHRISTMAS. 

Also. I read Peter and Lotta's Christmas every year. It's sweet. It's also insane. If THIS ever happened during Christmas dinner: 

I would freak out SO BADLY. I imagine it would be hard to feel like "yay presents!" and "yay seasonal cheer!" if you are weeping in fear under the table begging the giant goat man not to kill you.

HOWEVER, DEAR READER. 

This post is NOT to muse on the insanity of certain pagan Christmas traditions, but to wish you all a very VERY VERY VERY Happy Little Christmas! And to mark this, what better cookie to make than "Suomalaiset Pipparkakut" (Finnish Gingersnaps) shaped like Joulupukkis? 

Exactly. 

The recipe is OF COURSE one of Beatrice's. It involves a ridiculous amount of ginger and molasses and black pepper. The dough comes together essentially black, very stiff, very dense and dark. The baking result is a thin, super crunchy, spicy spicy spicy mouthful of Christmas amazingness. And I can only imagine that having a red icing harness thrown into the mix makes them all the more tasty. Mum seems to think so, at least. 

FINNISH GINGERSNAPS (goat shape optional) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup molasses or dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbs ginger
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 3 - 3 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the syrup, brown sugar, and butter until smooth. Add the cream, ginger, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, and salt, and continue mixing until the dough is stiff. Chill for several hours.

Roll out small portions of the dough into 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into 3 inch rounds. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

BEETLE NOTE: These are supposed to be crazy thin. They are supposed to be so thin that they will snap if you look at them for too long. Hence "snap." Ha!

At this point the dough was the approximate thickness of gold leaf.

It's like an army of Christmas Goats.

An army of Spicy, Paper-Thin Christmas Goats.

I got my Housewife on an lugged out the enormous wooden rolling block that takes up the entire counter. This meant I had LOTS of space to make the Joulupukki's extra extra extra thin. So thin, in fact, that 8-10 minutes was too much.

Mine were done in SEVEN.

TAKE THAT, BEATRICE. 

They baked up quite nicely, and I decided that the small bubbles that appeared in the surface were just irregularities that occur naturally in the fur of Christmas Goats. Because. Why not.

I rolled out the dough twice but after that didn't want to re-roll and push the flour-to-dough quotient over the edge, so instead I just spatula-ed what was left from the cut outs onto a baking sheet and made what as of this year I'm dubbing "Abstract Gingernsnaps" or "Gingersnap Shards." Mum says they look like something you'd get at one of those restaurants where you are served a single bubble of pale pink foam the size of a golf ball which, when punctured at table, releases "essence of rhododendron" that is supposed to make your dining experience not just three but FOUR dimensional.

Anyway. Mum got the first round of harnesses, when I was getting the hang of it.

And these are the good-looking ones of that round. The others look like the Joulupukki were in a traffic accident.

The Lovely Librarians got the nice ones, natch. An enormous box of them was delivered last night with STRICT INSTRUCTIONS that it was only to be opened on Pikkujoulu.

I hope they obeyed.

Since it is traditional to give small presents on Pikkujoulu, Mum got snazzy running socks this morning, along with the messier of the Joulupukki's for breakfast. Though actually, in our house, socks are always a welcome present, given to each other for almost every occasion. I guess in Germany you are supposed to leave your shoes out overnight and they are filled with presents the next morning, so I suppose taking that into consideration, socks are actually quite appropriate.

Marching towards Christmas! One gingery cloven hoof at a time! 

So Happy Little Christmas and Hauskaa Pikkujoulu to one and all! And let it be known that as of today, CHRISTMAS IS ON.

WE'RE AT ELFCON LEVEL 5 OVER HERE. 

I'm sure the terrifying old-goat-man would approve. Right before he killed you and ate you for dinner. 

Thanksgiving Debrief

The segue between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so fast, especially in our house, and this year it seems to have been completed with extra-lightning speed. Here I am going through the photos I took on Thanksgiving day sitting in front of the Christmas tree and surrounded by window candles, advent calendars, and about a million little glitter forest animals. We do Christmas RIGHT in this house. 

In the interest of keeping that transition smooth, however, I will make this a very photo-orientated post and provide Beetle Notes as necessary. 

I would like to share what the library table looked like last week: 

There was also a colour-coded "To Do" list on the fridge, a colour-coded (and cross-referenced) shopping list for Wednesday afternoon, and colour-coded index cards marking places in cookbooks. Wednesday night found me driving in the rain through back roads of rural Northern Mass, wearing electric blue L.L.Bean Kids long-johns and a puffer parka, with approximately 10 pounds of parsnips in the backseat, in search of the perfect 3-4 pound pumpkin. 

It took three farm stands and a near miss of a GMC pickup in the parking lot, but I did it.

PRELIMINARY BEETLE NOTES

• We had two lovely guests, my old dance partner from New York and her husband. So keep in mind the below amount of food is for four people, one of whom has the digestion of a geriatric rabbit. 
• I kept the theme "Traditional Yankee", as meaningless as that is on a holiday that celebrates the slaughter and subjugation of native people. Hence baked beans, cornbread, and hash. 
• I made both turkey and chicken (!!) as our guests were decidedly non-vegetarian. This scared me because I haven't cooked "meat meat" in about 12 years and I didn't want to mess it up. 
• I also didn't want to cook an entire turkey or an entire chicken, so I opted for two quick dishes that were simple and could be made on the stovetop, leaving the ovens free for important pumpkin-roasting and stuffing-baking purposes. Priorities, dear reader. Priorities.
• I would like to pause and make a sacrifice to the Gods of Google Maps and Projected ETAs because they make timing things possible. 
• My photos abruptly STOP somewhere between the stuffing and the turkey. This is due to guest arrival, never having a hand free that WASN'T covered in potatoes, and the fact that it gets dark sometime around 2 in the afternoon these days because apparently I live in pre-apocalypse Greenland. I'm sorry about this. I will provide commentary nevertheless, and you can use your imagination. 

Let's get started. 

BEETLE THANKSGIVING

--

Blue Cheese and Fig Jam Thumbprints

Apple and Cheddar Cheese Tart

Johnnycakes

Black Bread

---

Yankee Baked Beans

Wild Rice Stuffing with Fennel, Parsnips, Mushrooms, and Sausage

Baked Pumpkin Stuffed with Mushrooms and Cheddar Cheese

Colcannon Potatoes

Dill and Butter Poached Chicken

Turkey and Dried Cranberry Hash

---

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Finnish Housewife Cookies

---

All holiday cooking begins with an open Beatrice Cookbook surrounded by sticks of butter.

And no holiday (or event) would be complete without Finnish Housewife Cookies.

These are a favourite of my guests, and the husband in particular expressed chagrin that, the last time I made these, she wouldn't let him have any and ate them all herself. I believe this happened again this year. 

BLUE CHEESE AND FIG JAM THUMBPRINTS

These went over CRAZYPANTS WELL.

I made them the day before, then jammed them right before guest arrival.

They are though, of course, most excellent eaten un-jammed.

A final pop in the oven makes them slightly browner than the above, and with melty jammy properties. 

APPLE AND CHEDDAR CHEESE TART

This, like the above Thumbprints, was put in the oven right before guest arrival so it was nice and gooey and hot when they came in the door. 

And if there's one surefire way to say "New England" its "put some cheddar on your apple."

Also thyme and puff pastry make everything taste nicer.

Coming full circle beautifully, this makes a delicious breakfast the next morning. 

JOHNNYCAKE

This is also a good "breakfast next morning" one, oven-warmed and split with butter.

Obviously no New England table would be complete without cornbread. And I think that Baked Beans and Cornbread were created together for the specific purpose of shoving both in your mouth in large quantities.

BLACK BREAD

Yet another Beetle Bread concoction. This time Buckwheat flour, white flour, and Five-Grain Oat Cereal.

It's super dense and super chewy. Which. Exactly. 

YANKEE BAKED BEANS

THIS, dear reader, THIS is the new winter standby in the Beetle Household. Hands down, the best cold-weather comfort food in existence. I was a little intimidated by the whole "soaking overnight and cooking for a million hours" thing, but it was all surprisingly and blessedly easy (I suppose it's technically in my DNA, making baked beans). And these are SO GOOD AND SO WARMING AND AMAZING.

And quartered onions with cloves stuck in them just scream TAKE MY PICTURE. 

Mum's been having them for breakfast (which actually is traditional) and has put these at the top of the "Special Requests" sheet. For the next batch of "Breakfast Beans" I'm going to make them without onions, and I think a bit less maple syrup? But I have to be honest with you, if someone didn't take the pot away from me, I would have happily stood at the stove and polished off this entire thing. Now I understand why loggers and workmen could go all day long in the cold. Because they had these to come home to. There's very little I WOULDN'T put up with if I knew there was a bowl of this waiting for me.

WILD RICE STUFFING WITH FENNEL, PARSNIPS, MUSHROOMS, AND SAUSAGE

Did I mention how many parsnips I bought? 

Because I bought A LOT. 

Hey, it was the end of the season. I figured I might as well eat as many as possible.
You know, like a bear pre-hibernation. 

Roasted vegetables of various roots and kinds.

Sauteed mushrooms, natch.

Tossed with veggie sausage and fresh spinach and baked until crispy and fantastic. 

I don't need to say anything about stuffing really. It's everyone's favourite for a reason.

BAKED PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH MUSHROOMS AND CHEDDAR CHEESE

The elusive and finally located pumpkin.

Scraped out whilst watching the Rockettes kick their way through Herald Square.

Stuffed to the gills with cheese and sauteed mushrooms. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Baking anything inside a pumpkin makes it taste better.

COLCANNON POTATOES

An Irish take on traditional Mashed Potatoes.

Boiled and mashed (skins on, natch) Yukon Golds

Leeks and Dill cooked in milk and cream.

Then all combined in a swirl of amazingness. 

Yep. 

THE MEAT

As I said above, I have no pictures of this. [hangs horns in shame].

I will tell you that the Dill Chicken was a Scandinavian recipe (Kitchen of Light, Andreas Viestad, Artisan, 2007) and that I substituted chicken breasts for an entire roasted chicken. I poached it in butter and vegetable broth and what was I think an entire field of dill. It seemed to go down quite well, despite what I imagine is the crucial dill-stuffed-under-crispy-chicken-skin effect. I encourage you to try that.

The Turkey and Dried Cranberry Hash was a huge success (Dishing Up Maine, Brooke Dojny, Storey Publishing, 2006). Mum doesn't eat meat for the express reason that unless I cook it she doesn't eat it, and she LOVED this. Hash is good for the all-important leftovers, and I felt it wouldn't be too far a stretch to make it for the meal itself. I used cooked turkey breast and red potatoes, and fried it all up with onions and dried cranberries. It has been requested again, and shall be made (albeit with veggie turkey this time).

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

I made this last year for Thanksgiving and, three months ago, when I asked Mum what she wanted for Thanksgiving dinner, this was the first thing out of her mouth.

Like last year, I did a gingersnap crust instead of graham cracker.

And I used Neufchatel, like last year, so it's much lighter and whippier. 

Can't argue with Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Nope. 

I have already mentioned the Finnish Housewife cookies, (they were the first things made on this epic cookfest), and that brings me full circle.

Foof. If you've made it this far, bless you and keep you. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday full of the Macy's Parade (the only way to kick off the morning) and the Dog Show, and cosy couch times with family and friends. And that you got good Cyber Monday deals too, naturally.

I will leave you with two final "only in Beetle Land" things: 

• Friday morning, Mum and I naturally wake up at 4 to go to the gym. We realise in the pitch dark driveway that our guest's SUV is parked directly in front of the garage door. Mum says "well, I guess we can't go." I turn around, return to the mudroom,  go through coat pockets until I find keys that probably belong to an SUV, move the SUV, return the keys, and we are on our merry way without waking anyone up. Success. In the car on the way, Mum says quietly: "You know, you're kind of frighteningly single-minded sometimes."
• Another possible reason for lack of pictures during the second half of Thanksgiving is the fact that I chewed a hole in my tongue in my sleep (like I do sometimes because I'm a loser) which became infected just in time for dinner on Thursday night. It is distinctly possible that I didn't take pictures because I was also having trouble conducting a conversation and / or eating through pretty blinding levels of jaw pain. Friday morning (the same morning I moved the SUV, see above) I woke up to a swollen throat and an ear and cheekbone that were buzzing rather ominously. I essentially drank an entire bottle of Listerine over the course of the next 24 hours which may have killed half my brain but also seems to have ameliorated the situation. Win some, lose some. 

And now, dear reader, we enter CHRISTMAS. If you want me, I'll be doing this: 

for the foreseeable future.